Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1887-07-18
A VISION.
REV. n. L. ATWOOD DELIVERS THE FIFTH
OF HIS SERIES OF SERMONS
On the Christian Chureh-He Shows That The Old
and New feStamenS are the Great Witnesses
Spoken Of in Revelations.

ian church, delivered by n. L. Atwood,
the pastor of the church The sermon
was listened to very attentively. Fol-
lowing is the text and a synopsis OF
the sermon:
And will give power unto my two witnesses
and they shall prophesy thousand two hun
bred and three score days clothed in Sackcloth.
These are the twoOliye trees and the two candle
sticks standing before the God of the earth. And
If any man will hurt them, fire prOceedeth out OF
their mouth, and devoureth their enemies; and II
| any man Will hurt them, he must in this manner
| be killed. These have power To shut heaven
that il may not rain i'll the days of their prOph-
ecy; and have power over the waters IN turn
them 10 blood, and 10 smite the earth with all
plaques as often as they will. Aud when they
shall have finished their testimony, the beast
that ascendeth out of the bOttomless pit shall
make war against them and overcome them and
kill them. And their dead bodies shall lie in
the street of the great city that spiritually Is
called Sodom, and Egypt where also our Lord was
crucited.-Rey. xI, Cd to 18th verse.
1.-The book in which this vision is record
ed" said Mr.. Atwood. sis the Revelation
of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto Him
to show unto His servants things which
must shortly come TO pass; and He sent
and signified it by His angel unto His ser
want John. 1t is so very mysterious in its
style and the meaning is so deeply hidden,
and so many mistakes have been made by
commentators 10 their attempts to explain
it that it is thought by many to be i'm
proper TO attempt to unravel its Mysteries
at all But this is not the instruction of
the inspired Author, for He says:
Blessed is he that readeth, and they
that hear the words of this prophecy and
they that keep those things that are writ
ten therein 1t Is revelation which God
gave him to SHOW 10 his sERvANTs'-not
to tell to the porld, and he sent and
sIGNIFIED;' that IS, he made known by
signs, and not by speaking words in their
literal sense. His servants, then, are
especially required to read and 10 hear
the words of this prophecy. BY the efforts
of his servants, many things are now
made plain that were formerly hidden, and
doubtless many things that are now hidden,
his servants will hereafter make plain.
We set the highest value on the good
things that are the most difficult TO OBJ
tain.
1T is plain, then, that the explanation
of these mysteries is not to be found in the
meaning of the words as they are common
ly used, but by finding what is signified
by the seals, trumpets, walls, dragons, wit
nesses, beasts, &c, as they were shown by
His angel unto His servant john"
''He showed him things which must
shortly come to pass. Some Of the things
shown would require more than thousand
years for their accomplishment. But be-
loved, be not ignorant of this one thing
that one day is with the Lord as
a thousand years, and thousand years as
one day." . Peter 3d-Sth. The signiti-
canoe of many OF the symbols, and of
many of the words used ..s symbols, in the
Revelation, can be ascertained, by finding
where the same symbols, and the same
words are used as symbols by other writers
in the Bible, and where their symbOlical
meaning is explained. BY this means and
by the direct declarations of other writers
in this book, we expect to find perfectly
easy and satisfactory solution of all the
mysteries i'll the part of the Revelation We
have chosen for a subject this evening.
in the second verse a period of forty
and two months is mentioned. We have
already found that day is q prophetic
symbol OF year. There are thirty days
in propetic month and three hundred and
sixty days in prophetic year. BY this
reckoning forty and two months would be
1860 years. As this period OF time Is es-
pecially significant i'll this vision we will
put it down on the blackboard for refer
ence hereafter
land will give unto my two wit
uessesn Witnesses are those who testify
or give testimony. None can give testi-
mony but those who know the facts TO
which they testify. None can be witnesses
of Christ but those who know him. Belefin
IA fact is not Il qualification for witness to
the fact, no matter how confident the belief
may he For instance, all the people in
the United States believed that Guitcau
shot President Garfield. Those who were
present and saw it done, did not believe it
more confidently than Others did who
were not there The judge, jurors and the
people did not believe the fact more
strongly after the trial than they did be-
fore But none could be witnesses but the
few who were present at the time and saw
the shooting The two witnesses spoken
of here are the witness of Jesus Christ. They
must be of those who knew; not of those
who only had undoubting faith in Him.
Therefore the wo Dis cannot apply TO any
who have lived since the aye when he was
upon the earth. Since that age many
could confidently believe on him, but
none could know Him. Consequently
meme could be witness of Him. We must
therefore go back to that time to find His
two witnesses The best and most au-
thentic history Of that time is the Bible.
'In the tenth chapter of Acts and
i3d verse, We find this statement, To
him give all the prophets witness But
there were many prophets and only two
witnesses. All the testimony of all the
prophets is collected into one book. This
book is the old testament. This one book
now testifies to us all that the prophets
testified in their days concerning Jesus
Christ. We are looking, not for the real
witnesses but for symbols OF them. As
the old testament actually does testify of
Christ, and a. ii gives all the testimony
we have concerning Him previous to His
first coming, We must accept il ~ the
symbol Of one of the two witnesses.
in the last chapter Of Luke is record
Of what took place at the last interview of
Jesus with the eleven. After recalling TO
their minds the great facts concerning
himself, He tells them, 'Ye are witnesses
Of these things In the commencement
OF the iirst chapter of Acts, in recital of
this same interview, Jesus is quoted az
saying, And ye shall be witnesses unto
me, both i'll Jerusalem and in all Judea,
and in SamaIia, and unto the uttermOst
par. Of the earth 1t was Necessary to
choose another Apostle TO take the place of
Judas. Peter stated what were the
necessary qualifications. He said of
those men who have companied with
Us all the time from the baptism OF
John, unto that same day that he was
taken up from us, must one be ordained, to
be witness with us of his resurrection.
1t must be one who had cOmpanied with
them all The time else he could not testify to
all the facts, and therefore could not be a
witness.
1T Is n common mistake to suppose
that Jesus met Saul of Tarsus when be
was on his way to Damascus, merely TO
make a convert of him. Jesus himself
stated the real object in these words: i
have appeared unto thee for this purpose
to make thee a minister and q witness